Movies - Lilies

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	Movies - Lilies

Lilies is a Canadian film, released in 1996. It was directed by John Greyson, and written by Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau as an adaptation of Bouchard's play Les feluettes.

Expository narration

The film is set in a Quebec prison in 1952. Jean Bilodeau (Marcel Sabourin), the local bishop, is brought to the prison to hear the confession of Simon Doucet (Aubert Pallascio), a dying inmate who in fact has a very different revelation for Bilodeau: he has enlisted his fellow inmates to help him stage a play set in 1912, when Bilodeau and Doucet were childhood friends.

The play within a play

Note: Due to the film's primary setting in an all-male prison, female roles within the prison play are portrayed by the male prisoners.

The play dramatizes the events of their childhood in Roberval, when Doucet (Jason Cadieux) and Bilodeau (Matthew Ferguson) are both coming to terms with their homosexuality. Doucet has a romantic relationship with Vallier (Danny Gilmore), while Bilodeau remains repressed and tries desperately to convince Doucet to join the seminary with him. All three are involved in a school play dramatizing the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, with Doucet in the lead role.

The St. Sebastian play's homoerotic undertones contribute to Bilodeau's sexual awakening, as he gradually develops an unrequited love for Doucet.

When Doucet's father catches Doucet and Vallier kissing, he beats Doucet and forces him to marry Lydie-Anne (Alexander Chapman), a young Parisian baroness who accompanied her parents (Robert Lalonde and Rémy Girard) to Roberval in a hot air balloon. However, Vallier's mother, the Countess de Tilly (Brent Carver), encourages Vallier to attend the engagement party and declare his love for Doucet. Bilodeau also finally declares his feelings for Doucet, but is rejected.

Simon and Vallier subsequently meet for one last romantic encounter. Bilodeau witnesses the pair making love, and, in his jealousy, kills Vallier.

Concluding narration

Vallier's murder is the crime for which Doucet was falsely arrested and convicted.

Thus, the play was designed not as Doucet's confession of his sins, but a ploy to extract a confession of guilt from Bilodeau.

As a result, Bilodeau asks Doucet to kill him. Doucet, however, refuses.

Staging technique

The film's presentation is deliberately theatrical.

Some of the prison play's scenes are filmed in realistic settings, while others are explicitly depicted as taking place in the prison chapel. Realist scenes segue into chapel scenes through visible set changes. Leaves are removed from the chapel floor after a realist autumn scene. The final lovemaking scene between Doucet and Vallier is presented in realist style, but fades into a chapel scene when the boat in which the couple are having sex becomes a bathtub in the chapel.

Even in the realist scenes, however, female characters in the prison play are portrayed by the actors portraying the prisoners. Although the actors in female roles wear drag, they do not attempt to realistically impersonate women.

As well, the prison play's dialogue and acting are deliberately heightened to stage, rather than film, conventions.

As a result, the film's popularity with critics may not translate to a mass audience. Some viewers may find that by openly presenting the play-within-a-play's staging techniques, the film creates a deliberate sense of artifice which distracts from the viewer's ability to engage directly in the story itself.

Awards

The film was nominated for 14 Genie Awards at the 17th Genie Awards. It won the following awards:

Best Motion Picture
Best Sound (Don Cohen, Keith Elliott, Scott Purdy, Scott Shepherd, Don White)
Best Costume Design (Linda Muir)
Best Art Direction (Sandra Kybartas)

Other Genies for which the film was nominated, but did not win:

Best Direction - John Greyson
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Danny Gilmore
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Jason Cadieux
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Matthew Ferguson
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Alexander Chapman
Best Adapted Screenplay - Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau
Best Sound Editing - Janice Ierulli, Donna Powell, Tony Currie, Diane Boucher, Jane Tattersall and Richard Harkness
Best Original Score - Mychael Danna
Best Editing - André Corriveau
Best Cinematography - Daniel Jobin

The film also won the following awards:

Montreal World Film Festival, 1996 - Best Canadian Film
L.A. Outfest, 1997 - Outstanding Narrative Feature
Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, 1997 - Audience Favorite

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